why bother with cost Bertie training
well because it can help you write
faster and avoid injury so here are six
exercises to get you started in cost
aversive training now I know what you're
thinking you don't have time and I do
understand because cycling is already a
very time-consuming sport and if you
also have a job family social life why
add extra training well just a tiny bit
of time every week invested in core
stability training can make a big
difference on the bike and to be honest
once you fall off an exercise ball like
this just riding a bike feels quite easy
I think these kinds of exercises are
especially useful if you're planning a
long sporty there's some other involves
long climbs the only equipment you need
is a Swiss ball so the first exercise is
pretty simple and it looks really easy
you'll be familiar with this if you ever
go to a yoga class basically gonna line
your back with your feet about to hand
lengths in front of your bump and you're
gonna tilt your pelvis so the small of
your back is against the floor and then
you're gonna roll your spine away from
the floor vertebra by vertebra until
your body's in a straight line from your
shoulder blades to your knees really
slowly and controlled and then roll it
back down and it's very simple but doing
this exercise slowly and with control is
actually surprisingly difficult so if
you're a total beginner at this type of
training I would start with trying to do
this five times and remember that doing
it fewer times and right is more
important than trying to do it many many
times and getting the exercise wrong and
I would emphasize here that doing it
with control is much harder than rushing
it
the next exercise is called the Superman
pose
you might seen it before so it's pretty
simple get on your knees and your hands
with your hands directly below your
shoulders tense the lower abdominals
like you did in the previous exercise
and raise the opposite arm and leg until
they're horizontal slowly hold like that
for 10 seconds and then lower them
slowly repeat on the other side now I
think you should start out doing five
efforts like this when that gets easy
you can increase it to 10 and the more
advanced version of this exercise
involves bouncing your arm and leg so
once you're in position you raise them
slightly like this and to raise your leg
you should be tensing your glute your
bum muscle and to raise your arm you
should feel the tension in your shoulder
blades so when the basic Superman pose
gets too easy
you can increase it to 30 seconds on
each side bouncing like this
third exercise it's called a boat pose
again you might know this from yoga
start off as in the first exercise with
your feet in front of your bum lying on
your back and then gently and slowly and
with control
raise your feet off the ground and bring
your hands forward alongside your legs
hold that if you can for 20 seconds to
start with as it gets easier you can try
holding it for longer when it gets
really easy you can try extending your
legs and raising and lowering them very
slowly now the whole time only the small
of your back should be on the ground so
you're not lying on your back like this
you're basically balancing on the very
bottom of your back exercise number four
is a very simple plank now you want to
hold yourself nice and stable with your
hands directly underneath your elbows
and try and keep your body in a straight
line from the heels to your shoulders
keep your shoulders back and away from
your ears and feel the tension between
your shoulder blades it's just where you
should be holding your back and keep
your tummy tucked under
so not sagging like this and not up see
like this that a nice straight line with
your lower stomach muscles tense when
that feels nice and easy try it with
bent arms like this and if you can hold
that for 30 seconds you're doing pretty
well when you could hold a basic plank
for two minutes and it feels pretty easy
you could try a more advanced version
using an exercise ball like this we go
feet on the exercise ball that will make
it a lot harder especially if you bend
your arms and try to hold that for a
minute
that's definitely quite tricky that
the next exercise is a side plank
basically it is what it sounds like and
B on one elbow both feet and if you're
having trouble balancing to start with
use the other hand just stabilizing and
the important thing here is to keep your
body again in a straight line from heels
to shoulder but also not to Sag sideways
like this you keep your body as though
your back were pressed up against the
wall now when you can hold that for 30
seconds try raising one foot slightly
and holding it like that for 30 seconds
it makes it a lot harder and when that
feels easy try doing this for 30 seconds
the most advanced version of this one
again involves bouncing your leg I 2010
bounces after holding a solid plank for
30 seconds obviously you want to do both
sides for this side plank and it's quite
useful to use a timer to check that
you've got the same time left and right
final and hardest exercise is hamstring
curls on the Swiss ball so you want to
raise yourself up with the heels on the
Swiss ball shoulders on the ground in a
nice straight line if you can from heels
to shoulders and then curl the ball
towards you whilst keeping a straight
line as best you can
from knees to shoulders say your whole
body
well pivot upwards from the shoulders
and the slower you do this the harder it
is so you want to go from full leg
extension to roughly a right angle put
your knee and I'm trying to start with
five curls building up to 10 and then 15
[Music]
right see the advanced version is with
just one leg this is where it gets
tricky because you've got a balance and
use it core strength so wish me luck
right here we go
so heels to shoulders straight line one
look in the air
hold up with the other leg nice and
slowly and controlled I can just about
do ten on each leg
ouch
this set of exercises should only take
you 15 to 20 minutes and we'll start to
see the benefits if you just do them
twice a week for a few weeks what a
caution though if you're a beginner this
kind of training it'll feel quite tricky
so start with an easy version and build
up to the harder version try to avoid
doing this kind of exercise on a full
stomach
you'll feel sick and definitely don't
have a beer beforehand because it's hard
enough to bounce on the ball as it is
anyway I hope this helps you with your
training if you'd like to see some more
tips on how to train for sport eaves why
not click down here to see our series on
training for the maratona de la meaty